Clade-Specific Biogeographic History and Climatic Niche Shifts of the Southern Andean-Southern Brazilian Disjunction in Plants

Invasive species experience biotic and abiotic conditions that may (or may not) resemble their native environment. We explored the methodology of determining climatic niches and compared the native and post-invasion niches of four invasive forest pests to determine if these species experienced shifts or changes in their new climatic niches. We used environmental principle components analysis (PCA-env) method to quantify climatic niche shifts, expansions, and temporal changes. Furthermore, we assessed the effect of variable selection in the delineation and comparison of niche space. We found that variable selection influenced the delineation and overlap of each niche, whereas the subset of climatic variables selected from the first two PCA-env axes explained more variance in environmental conditions than the complete set of climatic variables for all four species. Most focal species showed climatic niche shifts in their invasive range and had not yet fully occupied the available niche within the invaded range. Our species varied the proportion of niche overlap between the native and invasive ranges. By comparing native and invasive niches, we can help predict a species’ potential range expansion and invasion potential. Our results can guide monitoring and help inform management of these and other invasive species.

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Smaller climatic niche shifts in invasive than non-invasive alien ant species

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-020-19031-1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Olivia K. Bates ◽

Sébastien Ollier ◽

Cleo Bertelsmeier

Keyword(s):

Invasive Species ◽

Alien Species ◽

Invasive Alien Species ◽

Invasion Biology ◽

Human Movement ◽

Climatic Niche ◽

Spatial Spread ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Niche Shifts ◽

Negative Impacts

Abstract The globalization of trade and human movement has resulted in the accidental dispersal of thousands of alien species worldwide at an unprecedented scale. Some of these species are considered invasive because of their extensive spatial spread or negative impacts on native biodiversity. Explaining which alien species become invasive is a major challenge of invasion biology, and it is often assumed that invasiveness is linked to a greater ability to establish in novel climates. To test whether invasive species have expanded more into novel climates than non-invasive alien species, we quantified niche shifts of 82 ant species. Surprisingly, invasive species showed smaller niche shifts than non-invasive alien species. Independent of their invasiveness, the species with the smallest native niches and range sizes, experienced the greatest niche shifts. Overall, our results challenge the assumption that invasive species are particularly good pioneers of novel climates.

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Climatic Niche Shifts Are Rare Among Terrestrial Plant Invaders

Science ◽

10.1126/science.1215933 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 335 (6074) ◽

pp. 1344-1348 ◽

Cited By ~ 426

Author(s):

B. Petitpierre ◽

C. Kueffer ◽

O. Broennimann ◽

C. Randin ◽

C. Daehler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climatic Niche ◽

Terrestrial Plant ◽

Plant Invaders ◽

Niche Shifts

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Climatic niche dynamics and its role in the insular endemism ofAnolislizards

10.1101/208652 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Julian A. Velasco ◽

Enrique Martinez-Meyer ◽

Oscar Flores-Villela

Keyword(s):

Greater Antilles ◽

Phylogenetic Comparative Methods ◽

Climatic Niche ◽

Island Endemic ◽

Climate Niche ◽

Niche Dynamics ◽

Niche Shifts ◽

Small Set ◽

The Caribbean

AbstractWe evaluated the tempo and mode of climatic niche evolution in the radiation of CaribbeanAnolislizards and the role of climate in shaping their exceptional insular endemism. Using phylogenetic comparative methods, climatic niche data and a calibrated phylogeny, we reconstructed climatic niche dynamics across time and space for CaribbeanAnolislizards. We found evidence of several instances of niche shifts through the CaribbeanAnolisradiation. Caribbean anole species have diversified mainly along a precipitation rather than a temperature gradient. Only a few lineages have colonized both cold and hot conditions. Furthermore, most of the single-island endemic species are climatically restricted to its native islands and a small set of species might the potential to colonize other islands given its climatic niche requirements. Overall, we found evidence that climate niche conservation has played a role structuring current insularAnolisendemism. The observed climatic dissimilarity across the Greater Antilles likely limit successful population establishment of potential exotic insular species.

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